Thieves steal electric meters, leave contact numbers on notes

Local correspondent

Electric meter theft has taken a horrific turn in Chatmohar, Pabna. At least 15 commercial meters have been stolen in the last week. An organized gang of thieves is removing meters in the dark of night and leaving a note at the scene, which has a mobile number written on it. If you contact that number, you are demanding money. Once the money is sent, the stolen meter is returned to the meter owner.

Locals say that such incidents have been happening for months, yet the administration has not taken any initiative to identify the thieves or bring them to justice. This has left the victims in panic and many do not even want to file a complaint with the police to avoid trouble.

Meters were recently stolen from the mills of businessmen Abdul Mannan, Abul Bashar, Shahjalal Sarkar, Punjab Biswas and Shahidul Islam in the Rail Bazar area. Earlier, several meters were stolen in the same manner in the Mulgram Bazar area.

The latest theft occurred on Tuesday night at Nikhil’s rice mill in the Bhadra Bypass area of ​​Mathurapur Union and Makbul Hossain’s feed mill in Uthuli village.

The method of theft is also strange. The victims say that after stealing the meter, the thieves leave a mobile number on a note. When you call that number, you are asked for a certain amount of money. After sending the money, you are told the name of a place. When you go there, you find your lost meter lying there.

Due to this terrifying process, many people are not approaching the police. As a result, the gang is becoming more reckless, taking advantage of the administration’s indifference. This is causing huge financial losses to the consumers as well as the government.

Abdullah Al Amin Chowdhury, General Manager of Pabna Palli Bidyut Samity-1, said, “Recently, there has been an increase in the number of meter thefts. Such incidents did not happen here before. The people whose meters are being stolen informed us, so Palli Bidyut filed a GD with the police station. However, we are not getting any results. Customers need to be aware. We advise using cages for meter security. Continuous customer awareness will be done by miking and using awareness seals on bill papers.”

The official avoided answering the question, “Do you think those who are able to open and take away electricity meters cannot open the lock on the meter cage?”

Meanwhile, Chatmohar Police Station OC Manjurul Alam said, “No one has come to the police station to file a complaint in this regard. However, if the victims provide those mobile numbers to the police station, the police station will make every effort to identify the criminals.”

But the question remains – is this cycle becoming so reckless because of the administration’s silence? And why are the victims unable to speak out out of fear?